NORTHAMPTON — Asher Young proved to be a valuable pitcher the past two seasons for the Amherst Regional baseball team, and the senior has really taken to his new role of staff ace to begin this campaign.

The right-hander turned in his second consecutive complete-game three-hitter to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over Northampton on Tuesday afternoon.

“If I’m feeling good coming off my last start, I look back on that last game, pinpoint what I did well and try my best to repeat it. I hope to build off each start going forward,” Young said. “I learned a lot from (previous ace) Mike Walkowicz. He was a great influence on me and a great team leader.”

Young struck out seven, walked three and allowed one earned run. Over the final three innings, he surrendered only a walk and a base on error.

“He works as hard as any pitcher we’ve ever had, and all that has led him to this season as a captain,” Amherst coach Greg Vouros said. “This was a great performance, and he got better as the game went along.”

Leading 3-2 in the last of the fifth, Young walked Mack Hale with one out. But he fanned Ben Christopher on a slider, then got Zack Goodwin-Boyd to fly out to left.

“I would say that was an adrenaline boost,” Young said. “Their lineup is really strong, especially that middle part. I just tried to keep it low, hard and away.”

After working around an error in the sixth, he ended with a flourish in the seventh, striking out John Grimaldi, Jay Wright and Hale to close out the win.

“I could feel myself getting better as the game went along, and by the seventh I felt really strong,” Young said. “I was really able to execute my pitches and hit the corners in the last inning. I always stick to my plan and try to make my pitches throughout the game.”

Vouros said, “With his pitch count pretty high in the seventh, Asher can bring that kind of stuff. That shows what kind of talent he has.”

Blue Devils junior pitcher Joe Warner also finished with just three hits allowed. He fanned three, walked four and hit a pair of batters, but also retired the side in order four times.

Warner’s lone difficult frame came in the third, when the Hurricanes scored the deciding two runs.

Jaimon Olmstead started the rally with a one-out single, then moved to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run single by Jamie Carey. A wild pitch brought in Olmstead, then a passed ball scored Carey.

“Once Joe settled down, he threw the ball really well the rest of the game,” Hamp coach Mark Baldwin said. “Those kinds of things — wild pitch, passed ball — usually happen when you don’t find the plate and can’t throw strikes. Unfortunately, that inning cost us the game.”

Northampton (3-3) cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Robbie Logue singled, stole second and came around on a Ben O’Connor base hit.

“The difference seemed to be that their pitcher has a great straight change, which kept us off-balance,” Baldwin said. “We’re a pretty good fastball hitting team, but he threw the off-speed stuff in fastball counts.”

Each team plated a two-out run in a rain-soaked first inning. Amherst shortstop Justin Carey was hit by a pitch, swiped second and took third on an overthrow. Ty Peake then hit a comebacker fielded by Warner, who slipped and threw wild to first to score Justin Carey.

In the bottom half, Wright reached on an error and was sacrificed to second by Hale. After the second out, Goodwin-Boyd laced an RBI double off the base of the right-center field fence.

“That’s a gap-shot home run with our old setup, but I really like having the fence,” Baldwin said. “It may have hurt us in this game, but it makes the game play more fairly for both teams. That should be a double.”

Catcher Jose Cabrera had the third hit and stole two bases for Amherst, which swiped six bags.

“We hoped to continue swinging the bats the way we have lately, but their pitcher made quality pitches when he needed to,” Vouros said. “I’m really pleased with the way we’ve started the season, especially with our approach every game.”

These teams will meet again on May 15 at 1:30 p.m. at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Michael Wilkinson can be reached at mwilkinson@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @mjwilk1237.